This generation’s game-changer? DLC.

“We’re pleased to announce that Dragonborn™, the next official add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim®, is now available worldwide for download for 1600 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE®.

With Dragonborn™, journey off the coast of Morrowind, to the island of Solstheim. Encounter new towns, dungeons, and quests, as you traverse the ash wastes and glacial valleys of this new land. Become more powerful with shouts that bend the will of your enemies and even tame dragons. Your fate, and the fate of Solstheim, hangs in the balance as you face off against your deadliest adversary – the first Dragonborn.”

This is the third dose of downloadable content for the wildly popular video game, “The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.” Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has enjoyed every piece of DLC that Bethesda has released. “Skyrim” PC owners have two DLCs – Dawnguard and Hearthfire – for the game. However, a year after “Skyrim’s” release, Sony PlayStation 3 owners are still waiting for the game’s first DLC, Dawnguard. Dawnguard was released in late June for the Xbox 360 – the PC version came out during the summer, but the PS3 version of any of the DLC has been MIA.

According to numerous sources, the Sony PS3 isn’t the problem, it’s Bethesda. Even Pete Hines, VP of Bethesda and head of public relations said it wasn’t the PS3 but them. Hmmmm.

And yet, a year later, the system is still waiting for DLC. Be it an expansion, extra guns and missions, map packs or the like, DLC can bring very different gaming experiences for console owners. While one set of gamers has the latest updates, another set of gamers will sit fuming and mad because they have been left out. This, however, is not new.

Remember the days of the PlayStation 2/Xbox? Console exclusives were the norm back way back when. If you were a fan of the original “Grand Theft Auto” on the PlayStation but owned the original Xbox, you had to wait at least two years to play it on the console. If you loved “Gran Turismo,” sorry, but you could only play it on the PlayStation 2. On the Xbox, you had “Halo,” “Fable” and a few other console exclusives. Yet, the number of exclusives on the PS2 – including “God of War,” “Kingdom Hearts,” “Metal Gear Solid” and “Final Fantasy” pushed PS2 sales into orbit. The Xbox didn’t stand a chance of duplicating the PS2′s success. However, going into the current generation, Microsoft is a great learner. The company is skilled at dominating. They wanted an in-road into the video game industry and knew the Xbox wouldn’t be a great success. However, Microsoft had an entry – and would use past mistakes last generations to create a better brand.

I can’t give you hard data, but this generation, Microsoft was first to the field with the Xbox 360. While they were first to market, the console was plagued with hardware failures (Red ring of death). Overheating consoles cost Microsoft $6 billion dollars. However, they had a year to work out the kinks and secure console exclusives. This generation, companies saw console exclusives as a bottleneck for profits. It would be better, business wise, to make products for all consoles. Microsoft had very few console-exclusive franchises but decided to focus their growth on online services and content.

Their gamble translated into success. Even without a wealth of console-exclusive games, Microsoft has secured several timed-exclusive DLC, sometimes holding off content on rival consoles for months. If you are a fan of a game but had to wait months to play the content, would you buy another system just to play a game and the extra content months early? From “Call of Duty” map packs that were delayed months to console-exclusive content that would never see the light of day on rival consoles, it could make gamers decide if they can weather the delay for games.

What do you think about this issue? Even PC gamers have been affected by console-exclusive content. What’s your take? Are you a PS3 gamer who owns “Skyrim” who is ticked by the lack of DLC while Xbox 360 owners can build houses and play “Dragonborn” and “Dawnguard” DLC? Please, no trolling but post your impressions below!

5 Responses

I don’t mind exclusive content going to other systems. Usually the kinds of games that are exclusive are not groundbreaking innovators but polished familiarity. Big name RPG’s and first person shooters, I can always wait. One game that was on Xbox long before PS3 was Limbo but as a PS3 user I didn’t even know about it until it was released a year later for my system. That one was truly innovative I thought, but the year difference didn’t bother me as it was still new to me. Sometimes not reading all the gaming sites all the time works in my favor, I don’t jones for the latest game on the other system as much.

[...] This generation's game-changer? DLC. “Skyrim” PC owners have two DLCs – Dawnguard and Hearthfire – for the game. However, a year after “Skyrim's” release, Sony PlayStation 3 owners are still waiting for the game's first DLC, Dawnguard. Dawnguard was released in late June for the Xbox 360 … Read more on Houston Chronicle (blog) [...]

I tried the XBox…bought one a couple of years ago and I’ve played on it maybe 100 hours total. It just sits collecting dust now because I prefer playing on a PC. Mainly because I prefer to play with keyboard and mouse rather than a gamepad. Also being able to crank the graphics up to ‘Extreme’ makes it more enjoyable. Plus you have to pay Microsoft just to be able to play online, which I don’t appreciate.